Startup hopes to hack the immigration system with a floating incubator

Some of the Silicon Valley's most important companies, including
Intel, Google, and Yahoo, were cofounded by immigrants. Yet America's creaky
immigration system makes it difficult for talented young people
born outside of the United States to move to the Bay Area. There
have been various proposals to make it easier for immigrant entrepreneurs to
relocate to the United States, but they've made no progress in
Congress.

So a new company called Blueseed is seeking to bypass
the political process and solve the problem directly. Blueseed
plans to buy a ship and turn it into a floating incubator anchored
in international waters off the coast of California.

Ars Technica talked to
Blueseed founder Max Marty. He acknowledged that it would be better
for America to reform immigration laws and thereby make his company
unnecessary. But in the meantime, Marty and his team are hard at
work tackling the practical obstacles to making their vision of a
floating, year-round hack-a-thon a reality. Within the next year,
they're hoping to raise a venture capital round large enough to
lease or buy a ship with space for around a thousand passengers. If
Blueseed's audacious hack of the immigration system is successful,
it will not only open up Silicon Valley to a broader range of
entrepreneurs, it will also shine a spotlight on the barriers
American law places in the way of immigrants seeking to start
businesses in the United States.

For everything else there's the B-1 visa
Blueseed is trying to overcome the limitations of American
immigration law, but its business model also depends crucially on
the goodwill of American immigration officials. That's because a
key part of the Blueseed sales pitch is that residents will be able
to make regular trips to the mainland.

Immigration law makes it difficult for many would-be immigrants
to get permission to work in the United States. For example,
there's an annual cap on the number of H1-B visas
available for American employers to hire skilled immigrant workers.
However, permission to travel to the United States for business or
tourism is much easier to get.

Marty pointed to the B-1 business visa as a key part of his
company's strategy. With a B-1 visa, visitors can freely travel to
the United States for meetings, conferences, and even training
seminars. B-1 visas are relatively easy to get, and can be valid
for as long as 10 years.

Blueseed plans to provide regular ferry service between the ship
to the United States. While Blueseed residents would need to do
their actual work -- such as writing code -- on the ship, Marty
envisions them making regular trips to Silicon Valley to meet with
clients, investors, and business partners.

With the ship only 12 miles offshore, it should be practical to
make a day trip to the mainland and return in the evening. A B-1
visa also permits overnight stays.